Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers
by DancingPurplePanda12
Summary: Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark had to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark had to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators.
1. Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: ONE Glance

**Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: ONE Glance**

_Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark had to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark had to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators._

It wasn't in his nature to simply say he enjoyed Cap's nature-because he didn't. When he first met him, he automatically felt attacked by his presence of...well, manliness and perfection. He was simply made that way, literally. But that didn't mean he couldn't try to be friends with him. Fuck it. Not friends. Acquantances, if you would even call it that. Either way, Tony Stark did not like him, but he was going to have to get along with him because he was his team mate in the end. They had to work together in order to accomplish anything.

Now as for Steve, with one glance, he knew Tony was only slightly like Howard, and not a good slight at that. Tony was egotistical as all hell, too smart for his own good, and way too bossy for his liking. And he also spoke in big terms that he didn't understand, just to piss him off he figured. But Steve was a good man. He wouldn't let Tony get to him so easily. He was his team mate; his partner. But by God when Tony angered him or annoyed him enough, Steve challenged his authority, trying to dumb him down much like a bully would. Now, that wasn't what he had meant to do, but it just happened.

With one glance, the men found a new life as a duo instead of just Captain America, Steve Rogers, Iron Man, or Tony Stark. They were partners for life. But they were broken toy soldiers fighting for a better cause.

Steve stepped up to Tony and gave him a smug look, looking down his nose at him. "Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony shot back, looking slightly amused, yet still shocked even.

Steve clenched his jaw tightly, seeing Tony react so defensively, yet amused. Couldn't anything shake his hope? With a quick breath, Steve shot back at the enemy. "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Oh! So Blondie wanted to play this game, did he? Well then. "I think I would just cut the wire," he twisted his mouth into a slight thoughtful form.

"Always a way out. You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

That had been the last straw. Steve backed down and took his seat next to Bruce Banner and clenched his fists tightly under the table. Tony was not a hero. What the hell did he do to be given the title? Given. Not having earned. Maybe he did a few good deeds, then figured he had had enough and decided to go and put up Stark Tower in the middle of New York to show off what a "good" person he was. Yeah, right.

Tony stared Steve down across the table, listening only halfly to Fury talk about God-knows-what. How was Steve a hero? Everything special about him came out of a bottle. His father helped make him! Make. He was made. That's got to be it. He wasn't a real human being. He was a broken toy soldier that no one wanted. And a liar too. He had lied about his home state many times to try and get into the army, but always turned down until he was created into a blonde Ken doll.

The meeting let out and Tony got up quickly, tossing his keys into the air and catching them with little effort, but perfectly. Great. Steve was still staring at him. "Do you have a problem, Capsicle? I can have you re-frozen until I die, then thawed out. You're just like meat. You can be frozen many times, because that means no one really needs you at the moment. That's all it is. Hero my ass. You're a liar."

Steve stood up and walked towards the door, Bruce on his tail to try and calm him down.

"Um, Cap? Please don't take it personally. Stark is this...genius-with words even. He'll make you feel like crap...well, everyone but me, but he really doesn't mean it. He's nice to Pepper Potts and Natasha at least. See? There's hope. You're a good man, Rogers. And we need you. We want you."

Aww. Bruce was a really nice guy. "Thanks, Bruce. I guess...I knew his father better than he could ever wish to have known him, and that gets to him. All I ever do is try to be a good man, but it's people like Tony Stark that makes life hard. He's so...broken. Can't you see it? I can't stand looking at him for too long. I can see the cracks through his painted on expression of-...of sarcasm and humor."

Bruce smiled slightly, nodding slightly in response to Steve describing Tony so artistically. "I guess I do see his cracks now that you explain it like that. But you can't dwell on things that make you angry. You have to learn to control it and substitute something in that makes you happy. Then, that happy feeling takes over and you just...smile."

Steve paused from walking and looked at him, nodding. "We'll see. I just couldn't stand him since I had one glance at him."


	2. Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: TWO Hits

_**Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: TWO Hits**_

_Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark __**had**__ to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark __**had**__ to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators._

"Look, I know I said some fucked up shit the other day, but you don't need to take it personally. Like it could phase _you_! You've got the will of many, and damn it…you're just a stronger person than I could ever be." Was Tony Stark actually giving Steve a compliment? Somehow, it felt like he was. Steve really didn't know what to say, so he said nothing and just stared him down again.

Tony looked around his shop and sighed, finding it to be too quiet even with his loud rock and roll blaring from his stereo system in the corner. Steve hadn't said anything to Tony since they had their little argument about Tony not being a hero and Steve being nothing but a liar. It was getting a bit awkward, and honestly, it was starting to piss Tony off.

Steve smiled only slightly and looked at the machine Tony liked to refer to as 'Butterfingers' and gently touched it. The machine moved slightly, as if examining Steve, then rolled over to Tony and finally went still. Odd. It was like it had feelings, but it was only a giant piece of metal. Much like Tony. Okay, that was a bit mean, but still.

With a small sigh, Steve finally cleared his throat and got up from the rolly-chair Tony had given him at his desk. "Stark, I've been thinking. I should apologize for calling you a worthless piece of man in metal."

"You never called me that," Tony snapped his gaze at Steve quickly, clenching his jaw firmly shut.

"I was thinking it then. But, how can you be worthless when you've created your security system and, I'm assuming, friend, JARVIS, or even the suits? That's amazing! I couldn't do it in a million years even if I tried. I guess I'm just trying to say is…it's nice to meet you." Steve stuck his hand out to him to shake, an offering to start over.

The Stark looked at his hand for a minute, then shook it firmly. "God you're as sweet as fucking frosting. Are you always like that? Bet it annoyed Barnes and Peggy Car—"

Steve's facial expression softened slightly, then became sad. He hadn't thought about Peggy or Bucky since he had woken up from being frozen in that fake 1940's set up. But it didn't work. "Please don't talk about Agent Carter. Or Bucky even. I lost both of them, and I just have this feeling that I'm going to lose_you_ too. You're the only memory of the 40's that I have left. Simply because you look so much like your father, but you're so different than him. He helped give me this gift."

Steve grabbed the chair and sat back down, crossing his legs gently. "I'm going to tell you a story. When I was going through with the procedure of turning into the super soldier, I was so afraid and in so much pain because everything was expanding in my body. I was such a skinny kid, and now I'm so…well, big. It was just so painful. When I was screaming and yelling, Howard wanted to stop, but I told them not to."

"Then, when it was done and I attempted to climb out of the machine, Howard was there to help me and be my pillar of strength when I had none. He then made sure I wouldn't get hurt by getting vibranium metal to make my shield. You know the qualities of vibranium metal, I'm sure. In ways, he wanted to protect me and make sure I was always protected if he couldn't always be there. I'll always be thankful to Howard, but now I can only thank _you_." The blonde looked at Tony and smiled slightly. It was all he could offer to Tony to try and say his thanks to him.

Tony sat on the edge of his desk heavily and stared at him in awe, as if he was trying to picture it happening like a movie in his head as Steve described it to him. "Wanna go a round or two?"

Really? Tony wanted a fight right now? Did Steve make him mad or upset or…_jealous_?

In only a few seconds time, Tony was suiting up to attack Steve out of jealousy, rage, and even a bit of sadness. He had known his father in his most devoted state than he, Howard's son, had ever known him his entire life. That, and he just wanted to test his father's work out. He rolled his shoulders a few times, then walked towards Steve, offering him the shield that he had brought along everywhere, just in case.

Steve still wasn't sure about the world today—better safe than sorry, and naked without his shield.

The blonde took his shield and ripped his shirt off, always wearing his Captain America unform underneath as well. "Tony, I don't _want_ to fight! There's no reason to!"

"Two hits! I wanna see what you can do." Tony was already throwing a punch at Steve's face, in which Steve quickly blocked with his shield and shoved Tony away.

A test? Alright then. Nothing wrong with that. After all, everything that Steve was made of came out of a bottle anyways.

Steve flung his shield at Tony, knocking him off balance and forcing him to land on his back in attempt to avoid the quick throw of the shield. Damn. Steve was actually a good fighter…this was going to be a bit difficult, but not impossible._Nothing_ was impossible.

Tony raised his hand and shot a beam at him, quickly getting up and walking towards him without fear. As Steve managed to dodge the beam, he began to count aloud. "That's two hits for you! I get one more, then we're done. I mean it!"

"I think I'll be the judge of that. Besides, life isn't fair, so—" Another attack on Steve as Tony flew at him, tackling him and sending them both into the side of one of Tony's cars, making the alarm go off.

As both men lay in the side of the now wrecked car, Steve panted slightly and looked at Tony beside him. "Alright Stark, you can have my second hit. You win. Are you okay?" Steve got up and helped Tony up by offering his hand to him, pulling him up gently when he took the hand.

The Stark coughed slightly and lifted his helmet, staring at Steve when he was able to see him clearly without the helmet on. His lip was bleeding a bit, but nothing too serious while Cap had nothing but a scratch on him, which healed instantly.

"Oh Tony…your lip is bleeding. See? This is why we need to make love and not war."

"Was that an offer to lay me?" Tony smiled slightly at the sight of Steve's face going crimson red at the mention of having sex with Tony.

Tony looked around at his now wrecked work shop and sighed, looking back at Steve with a huge grin. "Good game. You play fair. A man of his word—well, _my_word, but still. By the way, I like the whole…Super Man thing where you keep your hero uniform under all of your clothes and rip it off when you need to fight. Very classic and predictable, but still cool. Come upstairs and I'll order a pizza or something. Might as well be nice since Fury is forcing us to."

Yeah, Fury had had enough of their childish antics, so this was really all a set up. But, Tony didn't seem to mind anymore. Steve Rogers was a good man with good intentions. And he was fun to fight with too.

As they headed upstairs, Steve grabbed his shield from sticking out of the glass wall, jumping slightly as all of the glass walls came down at once, as if the shield were keeping them up. He looked at Tony, his face drained of color as Tony shook his head.

Upon arriving upstairs, Tony disassembled his suit and headed for his mini bar to get a drink and some ice for his now swollen bloody lip. He noticed Steve automatically go to the piano and sit down, staring down at the keys as if he wanted to play it, but he didn't dare touch it in fear of breaking the keys.

"You can touch it, you know. I don't give a damn. I don't touch it much, so someone might as well play it. You know how?" Tony slid into the spot next to him on the piano bench, looking at him.

"No, I don't. But I can doodle pretty good. I drew a picture of Bruce to thank him for being so nice to me, and he liked it a lot. He said that whenever I'm feeling pretty upset, that I should just think of something nice and I'll always smile. But he's always angry, so it's hard for him. He's…the nicest man I've ever known yet." Talking so fondly about a new friend was making him feel all warm inside and full of love. But…Tony took notice and poked fun at him.

"Aww…you and Banner are boyfriends, huh? No _wonder_ he's in such a good mood lately. I can imagine you two just holding hands when no one is looking. But did you know that he's an enormous green rage monster? That's why he's telling you to be happy."

"We're not anything but _friends_. _Team mates_. A _duo_ of strength and righteousness. Why do you intend to make me mad every ten seconds, Stark?!"

On a whim, Steve grabbed the cloth with ice in it and ripped part of the cloth off, dipped it into the alcohol, and pressed it to Tony's lip. "Just let me take care of who I have to, okay? Let me start with _you_. You got three hits and I only got one. It was supposed to be _two hits_."


	3. Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: THREE Words

**_Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: THREE Small Words_**

_Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark __**had**__ to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark __**had**__ to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators._

Steve ended up staying the night at Tony's, but only because he wanted to clean up the mess they had made during their little brawl. And if he hadn't have taken his shield out of the glass wall, Tony would still have a so-called "work shop" with four standing walls. Now it was three standing walls. Steve still felt responsible for ruining the wall, so he pleaded to stay and clean it up, having a feeling that Tony wouldn't clean it up anyways. Didn't Tony have maids anyways? It seemed like it.

About halfway into the night, Tony looked up from welding some pieces of metal together, checking on Steve's progress with cleaning the heaping piles of glass and debris up by himself. Heh. Cap seemed really into it, so better not bother him. But damn did Tony's back hurt from bending over and welding all night. Break time!

The Stark lifted his helmet and took his gloves off, placing them on his now turned-off welder and walked over to the blonde. "Look, you _really_ don't have to clean it up. I'll just end up breaking it for the upteenth time next week anyways. Alcohol tastes great, but it doesn't agree with how I act when it's racing through my veins." Did he just admit to being a destructive alcoholic? Yeah. Because it was true. The Stark was very clumsy and show-offy when full of liquor.

Steve leaned the broom on the wall frame and looked at Tony, stretching gently. "It's alright. We're both doing something productive, so it's alright, isn't it? What time is it?" He reared his neck to the left to look past Tony in search of a wall clock, yet found none.

The brunette looked at his cell phone and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "About…2AM. Why? Are you tired?"

"A bit. But I want to finish cleaning up first. How's your lip doing?"

"It's alright. The swelling went down and it's starting to scab over a bit. Guess you were right. The alcohol helped to clean it and help it on it's way to a full recovery. Are you some sort of secret genius?" Of course he was kidding, but damn that was a smart move on Steve's part.

The blonde shook his head and looked past Tony again to spy on what he was building. Red, white, and blue? What was he creating that was red, white, and blue? "I'm not a secret genius, I promise. Look…if you're planning on making me one of your suits in fear that I might be hurt—_don't_. I mean, _thank you_, but I heal quite quickly with the serum and all. Again, thank you—"

"It's not for you. I ain't building you _shit_. It's clear that you can protect yourself. It's _myself_ that I have to worry about. _You're just fine_."

The last three words out of Tony's mouth meant more to him than he would ever expect. Steve was fine in the sense of physically and in the sense that Tony now accepted him as a close friend and companion._ A companion_.

"Why use my colors?"

"Excuse me? Um…_your_ colors aren't _your_ colors. They're those of every American, and sometimes other countries too like France, the UK. Places like that. Excuse me _America's Sweetheart_. I can build whatever I want. I have been for years!" Tony hit Steve's shoulder harshly, glaring.

"No, but if you are tired, you could always stay over and finish this in the morning. Besides, my bed doesn't see much of me anyways."

"You never sleep? Or do you work all through the night all the time?" Steve nodded in agreeing to stay over. A good night's sleep would do him good, after all.

"Yes. I have to. I even work when I try to go to sleep. You'll see what I mean when we head upstairs." With that, Tony walked past him and headed up the stairs and towards his bedroom.

Upon arriving at his room, Steve noticed that Tony did indeed work when he was trying to sleep. There were parts and pieces everywhere in the room: on the bed, on the floor, on the desk. Yet, somehow, it was tidy and clean with the way Tony had placed the items. "Stark, you're…_amazing_."

Tony brushed past him and cleaned the bed off, putting the parts on his desk without commenting on Steve's compliment. "Do you need clothes to sleep in? I might have something big enough in my dresser."

"No! I'm fine. I can sleep in my underwear. Thank you. Um…goodnight."

Steve waited until Tony had left the room before stripping down to his boxers and climbing in bed. He sighed gently and laid on his side, staring out at the moon over the ocean cascading beams upon his face and onto the pillow next to him. For a brief second, he thought he could hear Tony hum slightly just outside of the door before going on to work more. And then the three small words played through his mind again briefly, which made him smile as he drifted off to sleep. "_I'm just fine_."


	4. Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: FOUR Hands

(Finally! Chapter 4! Sorry babies. I've been busy and depressed. That…equals bad. It's a short one, but…pretty good!)

Fixing Broken Toy Soldiers: FOUR Hands

Because he was Steve Rogers, Tony Stark had to love him. Because he was broken, Tony Stark had to fix him. It was in his nature, as a creator, not a breaker. But Steve Rogers wasn't broken at all. It was Tony that was the broken one, while Steve had to fix the creator. It was fixing broken toy soldiers and their creators.

Tony had completely forgotten about Steve sleeping in his bed when he came upstairs around 5AM to get at least an hour or so of sleep, having not slept since…well…maybe 5 days ago. He found a form sleeping in his bed, but didn't do anything about it. Instead, he climbed in bed with Steve and snuggled up to him, uncaring if Steve would punch him or freak out. He was dead tired and just wanted to sleep. Besides, a little comfort never hurt anyone.

Steve opened his eyes and looked to Tony, confused at first, then slowly snuggled back into him, thinking something was wrong. "Stark? Are you okay?"

Tony opened his eyes for a second and smiled fakely. "Just…tired. And I miss Pepper. She isn't going to come back because I'm too much for her."

"Pepper? I've never met her. Are you going to be okay?" Steve gently moved Tony's hair out of his face, smiling at him with such fondness that would melt anyone's heart instantly.

"No. I'm really not going to be okay. I just want to sleep Steve."

Steve pulled the covers over Tony and fluffed his pillow for him, gently laying his arm over Tony's waist and letting his fingertips gently brush against Tony's bare back. Tony was so warm…and soft…it suddenly smelled good…and it was relaxing.

A few hours passed before Steve opened his eyes, wondering how he had fallen back asleep in such a fond way with Tony under his arm. What would happen now that this had happened? He didn't mean for it to happen. It DIDN'T happen.

The blond got out of bed, making his side perfectly, then got dressed and went to sit by the window and stare at the sunrise and the ocean while he waited for Tony to wake up. The ocean was so…blue and deep. He could see a few dolphins splashing in and out of the water. It was so beautiful and relaxing with how the sun touched the ocean gently with its pinks, yellows, and oranges.

He looked back at Tony and smiled at his sleeping form, imagining shading in the colors of the sunrise casting rays across Tony's face so gently, warming his face to a slight honey color with pink touching his cheeks gently. It was so beautiful to think about. But he couldn't draw Tony, not after what had happened this morning.

A few moments of staring at the Stark passed before the Captain went back over to the bed, gently putting his knee into it and leaning over the brunette, his fingers playing about in Tony's hair. Steve pushed the few dark strands out of his face, feeling how warm the sun had made his hair. Maybe a bit too warm. "You're so warm that I'm beginning to get dizzy…"

Tony reached up suddenly and grabbed Steve's hands, his eyes opening and he just stared at Steve for a moment before shutting his eyes again and wrapping his arms around Steve in a tight hug, pulling the soldier down on top of him. "Four hands are better than two."

Whatever that meant, but it felt right to be hugging his new friend so fondly. It's the least he could do for the Stark, since his father had done so much for him. Time to repay him.


End file.
